Mortis Medusae
Origin The Mortis Collective and therefore, the Mortis Medusae, are older then mankind by a couple dozen million years. Of course, in actuality, they are technically technologically younger then more advanced, older star-faring races, though the Mortis Collective is quickly catching up and even outpacing several of them. Born during a time of when the world was… well it has never changed in actuality, the Mortis Medusae quickly had to band together for survival, and with it, started out fairly technologically-well and culturally and socially united, in opposition to many other races. The sheer number of predators in addition to hardships meant they had to, in a sense, and quickly developed moderate projectile technology harnessing cryogenics, and later on, the usage of mild energy weapons. Of course, they had not developed their first space-faring starship and relied upon a modest-sized fleet of ships that could not operate in space for extended periods of time. In addition, mortality rates were extremely high, suggesting the Mortis Medusae crews could simply not handle the zero-G conditions of space. This would eventually end with the first traders, where-by artificial gravity was introduced. Of course, some odd two million years later after this point, the Mortis Collective had grown powerful, but knowledge of its races became very well-apparent. Possessing countless minerals and native resources, several star-faring nations banded together in what became known as the Generation War to the Collective, confident that the younger race would fall easily to such matters. ' ' This… did not work out as planned. While the space combat was more easy, even it proved difficult as the Mortis Medusae gave no grounds and no quarter. In addition, their ground troops and exoskeletal technology meant the Collective had a better advantage versus the regular armsmen, thus making it clear that they could not afford a ground war. By the time the Coalition’s forces were retreating, the Collective had come for blood, and destroyed at least one of the six stellar empires that fought them, with the other five eventually defeated, their territories assimilated, and their home-worlds/capital worlds quarantined indefinitely. Since then, the Mortis Collective has begun to slowly expand outwards in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and with it, will eventually reach the Milky Way as a full colonizing force soon enough. Quite ferocious and terrifying, there are ships in the Milky Way already, though these are trade ships and not war vessels. Still, the question remains certain. Is the Mortis Collective going to expand and kill us all? Only time will tell in the end. Government The government of the Mortis Medusae is not exactly a complex one, though it has its roots in socialistic programs, giving credence it is a socialist or even a communistic form of government. Either way, these socialistic programs and communistic schools of thought have an official name, as the Mortis Collective. While they would be considered a perfect communist utopia by Karl Marx as they do not possess the idea of personal, private property, and all Mortis Medusae work the jobs assigned to them by the Collective, how much of this is adoption of communistic-socialistic properties and how much of this is just merely due to the species’ alien mindset, is truly unknown. Despite this, they are not a totalitarian government, though authoritarian might be stretching it, truth be told. However, the Mortis Medusae often rarely treatize with other governments except in occasional trade, and with that in mind, many see them as an invisible boogeyman. Military The Mortis Medusae have a relatively strong military, both navally and ground-wise, with a unique, interesting approach to warfare. Due to their middlingly-high population numbers, but also advanced technology, they will often invade a world usually through vanguard forces, disguised as meteor showers and landing on remote islands or the oceanic floor, or wherever they can land, really, before proceeding to begin casually adapting said Mortis Medusae to the world’s biology in question. This Mortis Medusae are unique in that they are not comprised of the majority baseline, but rather a smaller, more expendable group often selected for such policies, as the mortality rate of adaption is… quite high. Regardless, said vanguard forces will often secure a bulwark, before calling in for reinforcements and adapting to the world’s tactics in the interim. Once the space fleet arrives, the combined ground forces and freshly-arrived naval forces often tend to shred through enemies. Their military can vary, though the common application of gunships, walkers, and larger bio-forms comprised of multiple Medusae suggest that they have some mechanization. Mortis Medusae mostly formed their military, however, as a defensive measure and rarely carry out offensive campaigns except if severely provoked, or if requiring essential resources. Most of these conflicts, however, can be attributed to the Generation War, where a whole generation of Mortis Medusae was enlisted and fought against aggressive alien species who sought to expand into their lucrative sector of space, mostly for the abundant natural resources. Repulsing these invasions and expanding outward, most of the offending species in the war have been curtailed, not genocided, and quarantined to their own planets. The Mortis Medusae do not, however, waste time on silly measures, and their competent and pragmatic thought-schools lead to them enacting total war upon the enemy if possible. This has given them a sinister reputation, and somewhat-deserved, though the Mortis Medusae do not senselessly kill for violence, but rather to ensure total victory. Culture The Mortis Medusae culture, despite its seeming cruelty to any race but their own, has a rich and dynamic culture. Believing not in a religion but instead in the concept of “Anima”, the idea that everything by default has a spirit and nature to it. Because of this, nothing goes to waste, be it food, resources, technology, military applications, etc. There is no waste, no misallocation, no needless spending where there shouldn’t be. Because of this, cultures that are extremely vainglorious or needlessly wasteful tend to find the Mortis Medusae far too humble and plain for their tastes, and vice versa. Another interesting thing is that Mortis Medusae, as a whole, are extremely eco-friendly, often spending years reversing polluted worlds and restoring their natural ecological beauty, which they do not inhabit, but instead keep as “Garden Worlds”, meant to act as ways for the Mortis Medusae to study other life-forms and to advance their own knowledge of the living world. In a sense, though, they will only terraform dead worlds, or worlds of species they have vanquished and conquered, to find more or less not worth preserving. This is not done out of any malice, but the Mortis Medusae, while fine with preserving nature, also consider other races to be more akin to, at best, wasteful organisms that often need to be kept in check, and at worst, a biological plague upon the galaxy. However, they will not needlessly exterminate, instead often preferring to quarantine and isolate the organisms until they develop to a state in which they can live more according to the Mortis Medusae’s policies. Technology The Mortis Medusae, despite their insular, non-trading nature, are fairly technologically advanced in the setting of Doctor Who, with their own FTL device as well as a considerable number of advancements, terraforming technology and military applications in particular. Having evolved somewhat as a prey race, their advanced technology was primarily utilized to defend themselves, and it shows. Rather than utilizing conventional ballistics, they often utilize energy-based weapons, with a mixture of projectile weaponry that does not use bullets, but cryogenically-generated icicles and ice shards, shot at extremely-fast speeds. Another innovation is their exoskeletal technology, designed to help them move around and effectively ensure survival in foreign environments. Their faster-then-light device utilizes a form of time-spatial warping, scavenged from an aggressor “predator” race that the Mortis Medusae later wiped out, and then rebuilt from the design schematics, and later innovated upon. Producing a time-bubble, this effectively speeds the ship a millionfold, but also keeps the crew from aging in the process. Another curious innovation is their technology that involves the concept of scent-memories and genetic markers. Unable to be utilized by any other race, they are tailor-made to the Mortis Medusae. Sociology The Mortis Medusae have a vastly inscrutable and alien mindset, not exactly similar to humans, nor really any humanoid race. They do not have a concept of time strictly defined on a linear sense, not relying upon the past, present, and future tenses. To them, the concept of time is irregular and not at all sensible, relying instead upon the usage of scent-memories to tell how much “time” has passed. This limited perception and awkward association has given them a reputation for not exactly being fully-coherent of more advanced technology that requires the complex understanding of time-space dynamics, though they are not stupid. In addition, the Mortis Medusae do not have a word for friend in their language, nor the concept of enemy. To them, life is more or less an example of predator-prey dynamics, with prey being anything they can devour, and predators being anything that can resist and do the same in turn. Because of this, while Mortis Medusae have a preference for conquest that makes them out as war-mongerers, they do not wage war for the same atypical reasons beyond that of material ones, with wars most often being carried out for food, or occasionally, resources they need. Even then, the Mortis Medusae do not often actually wage war, and it is rare to see them being aggressive unless agitated or invading for resources. In Mortis Medusae society, no other races are seen beyond their own, and while they are not xenophobic, their hostile environment they naturally dwell in (and often terraform), in addition to the already-mentioned predator-prey dynamics, suggest they do not often tend to get many tourists, visitors, or what not. A curious factoid, however, is that the Mortis Medusae also do not have a concept of racism or xenophobia, as well as sexism. To them, these are but the strange socio-cultural whims of a prey or predator race they do not understand fully, nor could comprehend. Unable to speak except in a gurgling, burbling series of noises, their language, while seeming crude, is actually extremely complex. Relying upon a mixture of scent-memories, light-flashes, and even the exchange of biological structures to pass information (as they are semi-colonial organisms and theoretically could combine to form larger structures), their language is very much poorly-understood, both due to their reclusive, insular nature, and the lack of structures and ability to comprehend it. Another curious thing of note is that Mortis Medusae can not speak any real languages, though they can learn at least the written form (though not visual, as they do not have complex eyes, only patches of specialized cells meant to visually identify shapes and distance). In further addition, the Mortis Medusae do not utilize conventional currency, instead relying upon the trade of a product in exchange for another. Biology The Mortis Medusae, known informally by this moniker, are a strange, quite unusual race. Bipedal, if vaguely-so, Jellyfish-like organisms, they bear many similarities to the Portugal Man ‘O War, as well as the Immortal Jellyfish, and other organisms. Capable of regenerating by going into an infantile state when taking serious or severe damage, and then going through their relatively fast life-cycle (infancy lasting around thirty to forty days, with full adulthood taking around three months to complete), this has given them a biological “immortality” to be more or less unkillable by the rigors of time. That being said, however, they were predated upon by many predators, and so developed rigorous counter-measures beyond such means, such as natural stingers that extrude extremely powerful paralytic venoms, and the ability to utilize their body heat as a natural measure to dissolve their molecular bonds, essentially developing into a goopy substance, before reforming at will. Such molecular interests is primarily attributed to their dietary consumption, as how they work is by essentially stretching their body-mass and enveloping a prey much like a phage cell, draining the victim of essential body fluids, and then utilizing strong stomach acids to eat away at the victim’s flesh and bones. Such digestion is rather quick and efficient, with no waste products remaining to be excreted. Instead, said waste is utilized in the blood-stream, making them naturally toxic and poisonous. ' ' However, the Mortis Medusae are also unique in that they possess a form of semi-colonial structure with no real organs or dedicated structures, essentially their bodies being a combination of nerve cells, immune cells, neurons, and other vital structures. While this means little to those uneducated in such manners, it means the Mortis Medusae are essentially capable of learning very quickly and efficiently, in a rapacious manner. Their semi-colonial structure also means they do not need to reproduce sexually, instead budding or producing asexual “clones”, with all Mortis Medusae being hermaphroditic individuals capable of self-propragating. Ideally, the Mortis Medusae exist at a temperature of around negative twenty-two degree Celsius, with higher temperatures causing them to melt and unable to maintain structural cohesion. Having evolved on an low-gravity ice world with a heavily oxygen-based atmosphere, the Mortis Medusae are thus confined to it, mostly by din of needing to exist at low temperatures. Their weaknesses, however, are somewhat glaring. Aside from a weakness to heat and hot environments, the creatures themselves are highly immobile outside of a body of water, existing thus in sluggish, slow movements, and atmospheres that contain less oxygen also tend to be immeasurably fatal to them. In further terrible addition, the Mortis Medusae are not very strong or fast, mostly relying upon their amorphous bodies and severe toxins to fend off predatory organisms. Despite these, however, they have built a minor star empire somewhere outside the reach of the rest of the known galaxy, suggesting their intelligence, which by biological standards, is extremely impressive, will be carried on as an advantageous survival trait. They are also capable of glowing and flashing lights, presumably as a defense mechanism. They are also capable of combining their collective mass into larger forms if need-be. Category:Species Category:Mortis Medusea